Charles Sanders

As a former NFL player with the San Diego Chargers and the Pittsburgh Steelers,

Charles Sanders

Charles Sanders has always been a very involved philanthropist within the Pittsburgh community. The running back turned businessman understands the importance of helping those in need and has played an active role in bettering the lives of others.

His contribution does not stop at supporting charities and local programs, however. One of his largest contributions came in 2002 when he and his wife, Elisa, founded one of the most highly rated, privately held vendor management companies in the country, Urban Settlement Services. The company later changed its name to Urban Lending Solutions and has been on a steep growth curve for the past few years.

Nearly 10 years after its founding, the company continues to grow, adapt and garner accolades for the problem-solving work it has done for lenders and servicers. A certified Minority Business Enterprise, the company has been named a National Minority Supplier Development Council Supplier of the Year, listed as a 2009 and 2010 Black Enterprise 100 in services firms and a 2009 Top Five Fastest Growing Firms in Western Pennsylvania by the “Pittsburgh Business Times.”

Sanders, the company’s CEO, has built the company on excellence, dedication and teamwork and got its reputation for providing title services and loan origination work for people buying homes. With the onslaught of the mortgage crisis, Sanders saw an opportunity to grow and help more people, so he decided to shift his focus. The company looked to provide comprehensive products and services to support the residential and commercial mortgage and real estate industries delivering some of the fastest turn times in the industry.

While Sanders has taken hard hits on the football field, he didn’t like seeing people in his community suffering from the hard-hitting effects of the mortgage crisis. Sanders grew the company’s services in recognition of and in reaction to the mortgage crisis. He saw that he was in a perfect position to help those in need when the housing market fell in 2008 and partnered with financial institutions to provide homeowners with options to save their homes.

Those options include solutions for residential, servicing and commercial. Urban Lending Solutions is experienced with both prime and subprime transactions, as well as loan requirements. It offers full title insurance across the country, as well as appraisal and alternative valuations, settlement and closing services. The business provides a full complement of loan origination services.

Bringing the centralized vendor management concept to the commercial sector, Urban Lending Solutions commercial unit offers a full complement of services, including appraisals, title and settlement services, as well as construction audits, tax reduction services, cost control and risk cutting. The company can centralize all facets of commercial transactions so that clients can access all of the real estate and mortgage services they require from one source, saving time and creating cost-efficiencies.

The growth and success of the company over the last five years is a direct result of Sanders’ ability to recognize emerging areas people needed help in as well as the company’s solution management capabilities. His vision and delivery of services has provided a beacon of hope for families across the country. Through the organization’s home retention work, Urban Lending Solutions has become an industry leader and since 2007, the company has helped retain nearly one million homes.

Since 2006, Sanders’ leadership and direction have resulted in revenue growth from $10 million to more than $100 million. Through the company’s expertise in emerging markets and its ability to help meet and even exceed goals, the company is one of the largest providers of home retention services focused on saving people’s homes and removing debt. The company now has offices in North Carolina and Colorado, along with its headquarters in Pittsburgh, and today, it is the nation’s largest minority-owned settlement services company.

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